A Bug's Life, Less a Bug
by Flikaline Rosalka -old account
Summary: It's like a novelisation of A Bug's Life written from Atta's POV but also shows changes of how the film might have been like if Dot hadn't existed. Thank you so much to those who commented I really appreciate it! I'm done! P.S. I'm fond of cliffhangers!
1. Chapter 1

'Atta! Atta! Wake up!' I opened my eyes and wished I didn't have to. My mother was standing above me. It was a new day on Ant Island, another problematic day of learning to be queen.

'Don't look so worried after today we won't need to worry about the grasshoppers for another year.'

The grasshoppers! How had I mannaged to forget? I groaned. What if they didn't accept the offering? Or what if I goofed up really badly infront of the entire colony? Or what if . . . ?

'Atta?'

'Yes?'

'It's no good sitting there worrying about it. Now get up and I expect you to be up by the offering stone shortly.'

'Yes mother.' I sighed. sometimes it was hard not to wish I was a worker ant, at least they didn't have the stress of making the decisions.

I flew over a few of the worker ants as I approached the offering stone. How embarrassing it would have been if I'd crashed right into them. I landed next to my mother and tried to look less apprehensive than I felt. She was holding Aphie her pet aphid.

'Right, Atta, tell those two ants over there to come and shade us.' I gulped. 'Go on,' she said half smiling.

'um . . . right . . . I'll just go and . . . um,' I took off and flew, rather slowly, towards them. I landed. I opened my mouth but no sound came out. The two ants stared at me. It was embarrassing. 'Um . . . c-could you come . . . um . . . over and s-shade u-us?' I asked timidly. They followed me over. Why did I always act so stupid? How was I supposed to be the queen if I struggled with the simplest things? One of the worker ants sniggered. I knew who she was, she was called Martha and she was never particularly pleasant but it did not help my mood much.

Then I noticed the wind was calm, I felt extremely nervous. 'Oh, the wind's died down they'll be here soon,' I said anxiously starting to pace up and down.

'Just be confident, dear, you'll be fine.' That was all well and good to say but how was I supposed to feel confident? I looked over at the line of workers and saw that

'There's a gap!' I shrieked, 'There's a gap in the line! What are we gonna do!' I raced over to Thorny who was nearby and was counting the amount of grain.

'It's okay, your highness. Gaps happen, we just lost a few inches that's all.' I felt slightly calmer.

'Oh, right.' I hovered above him nervously, trying to see the amount of grain.

'Your highness, I can't count when you hover like that.' I jumped down.

'Oh, sorry, go ahead.' My mother sent the two ants that had been shading us away and I remembered the embarrassment of the affair. Then she came over to me.

'Okay, Atta, now what do we do?' she asked me. I snapped out of the day dream I was having.

'Uh . . . oh! I know it! I know it!' I thought hard but to no avail 'What is it?'

'We relax!' She replied. I chuckled slightly.

'Right.'

'Oh, it will be fine dear,' she ensured me as we walked a little. 'It's the same year after year: they come, they eat, they leave. That's our lot in life, it's not a lot but it's our life.' Then she laughed. I tried to. 'Isn't that right Aphie?' she said, putting Aphie on the ground. 'Oh, you're such a cute little Aphid.'

Aphie yapped. We watch him for a moment as he ran around us. My mother looked at me, 'Try to calm yourself, dear. No need to get so hot and bothered about every tiny thing.'

'But . . . '

'Nothing is going to go wrong.' I nodded, trying to smile.

'I sure hope so.' Suddenly there was a crash. Aphie yapped loudly. I looked over and to my surprise there was a stalk of grass lying on the ground very close to us. I went over to it. It appeared to have fallen out of thin air. Dr Flora was running towards us closely followed by Mr Soil.

'Anyone hurt?' she called.

'No.' I called back. Before I could react, another stalk came flying through the air landing on top of me. I could hardly breathe under the heavy weight of it. Dr Flora, Thorny, Cornelius and Mr Soil came over to help me. What was going down?

'You could have killed someone over here!' shouted Dr Flora, agitated. Then I heard foot steps and then shouts and they were getting closer. Oh, no! I knew that voice, not Flik! Not at a time like this!

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please forgive me! I'm sorry!' he called. The others then managed to get the stalk off me to my immense relief. I coughed and spluttered. Flik screamed 'Princess Atta!' I put my crown back on and looked up.

'Flik, what are you doing?' I asked weakly standing up. What was that thing he was carrying on his back?

'What? Oh, this,' gesturing to the thing he was carrying, 'this is my new idea for harvesting grain, no more cutting down individual cornels, you can just cut down the entire stalk.' I sighed.

'Flik, we don't have time for that . . .'

'Exactly!' he answered, his voice filled with enthusiasm, 'We never have enough time to collect food for ourselves 'cause we spend all summer harvesting for the offering but my invention will speed up production'.

'Another invention?' Oh, no! Not another one! He was continuely making inventions and they were continuely going wrong and causing havoc everywhere and he caused enough problems without his inventions.

'Yeah! And I've got something for you too,'

'Flik!' I groaned. He didn't pay the slightest bit of attention.

'Since you're going to be queen soon you'll need this to oversee production.' He collected 'Just an ordinary blade of grass and a bit of dew, right?'

'Flik, please,' I begged. He was completely oblivious to my obviously bored tone.

'Wrong! It is in fact, a telescope.' he said putted the dew into the grass. My mother laughed. I was quickly losing patience but I didn't want to be mean to him but it was getting very difficult not to blow a fuse.

'That's very clever, Flik, but . . . ' He put the telescope up to his eye.

'Why, Princess, aren't you looking lovely this morning? Not of course you would need a telescope to see that . . . ' It was then that Thorny stepped in.

'Alright, listen.' he told Flik sternly, grabbing the telescope and tossing it aside, 'the princess doesn't have time for this. You want to help help us build this thing? Then get rid of that machine, get back in line and pick grain like everybody else.'

'Like everybody else.' repeated Cornelius. I sighed and said

'Please, Flik, just go.'

'I'm sorry,' Flik answered sounding dejected 'I was just trying, trying to help.' He slunk off through the stalks of grass.

'Harvester!' said Cornelius, 'Why we harvested grain the same way since I was a pupa!' I gave a heavy, irritated sigh.

'Where were we?' I asked, still feeling slightly agitated with Flik. Flik was so annoying it was incredible and nearly everything he did goofed up something or another. He was prone to clumsiness, always had been. In fact when I was younger, I thought he had something against me for a while.

'The food pile, your highness.' answered Mr Soil.

'Oh, yes, yes.' I said attempting to sound confident.

'I'd say we almost have enough grain, now, your highnesses.' Thorny informed us.

'Just as well,' replied my mother 'I hate to think what might happen if we didn't give enough.' The others shivered. They then returned to what they had been doing before hand. Once they had gone I turned to my mother. I hesitated then I asked,

'What would happen if we didn't give the grasshoppers enough food?' I asked in barely more than a whisper. She went quite pale. She stuttered and then,

'I – I don't know,' she answered croakily, 'but it wouldn't be at all pleasant.' I decided not to press the subject. It was obviously not something that she was very keen on discussing. I then felt even more nervous than I had before. She put her hand on my arm and we walked back up to the offering stone. Suddenly, a loud, low sound filled the air. They were here. Ants were running in all directions, panicking. How was I supposed to organize this rabble? I tried, attempting to be heard over the racket,

'Uh, single file!' I tried again, 'Food to the offering stone,' I trailed off. It was completely hopeless, no one was paying the slightest bit of attention. I had absolutely no control over anything. My mother took control:

'Alright, everyone. Single file. Food to the offering stone and into the anthill, now, let's go!' Everybody put the remaining grain on the stone and headed for the anthill. I flew up to the entrance to observe the others.

'Come on, keep movin', keep movin', Good.' I looked around. No one in sight. 'Okay that's everyone.' Or at least I thought it was. I flew into the anthill and went to stand next to my mother. I was getting more nervous every moment but in my mind was the knowledge that I couldn't think of a single thing that could happen that could possible change the fact that plenty of food was waiting for the grasshoppers above our heads and nothing could change that, could it? 'They come, they eat, they leave. They come, they eat, they leave.'


	2. Chapter 2

Silence. Everybody was holding their breath. Then Flik poked me in the back,

'Your highness, there's something I need to tell you.'

'Not now, Flik.' I answered, irritated. I was stressed enough as it was without him interfering giving me pointless information, probably something about one of his inventions . . .

'But you highness,' he answered, sounding somewhat desperate, 'It's about the offering!'

'Shh!' I snapped trying to focus my full attention on what was happening above us. Then we heard voices above,

'Hey, what's going on?' Then another,

'Yeah, where's the food?' Everybody gasped, horrified. I turned to Flik, both feeling furious and fearful.

'What did you do?' What had he done? Where was the food? What exactly had happened? Every single ant in the colony turned to look at him.

'It was an accident?' he said sheepishly. A crashing sound was heard from above us. We looked up. Large gaps were appearing in the ceiling. No! The grasshoppers! They were breaking in! What were we gonna do now? Grasshoppers came at us from every direction. Everyone was panicking and scrambling away as fast as they could. I had absolutely no idea what to do.

'Atta! Atta!' screamed a voice. I looked towards the sound to see a young, terrified girl running towards me.

'It's okay, Petal, it's okay.' I assured her, trying to sound soothing. She clung to my legs and whimpered. Suddenly everything stopped. No one moved a muscle. No one spoke. It was him. Hopper. The most terrifying figure you could ever set your eyes on in your entire life. Petal clung tighter to my legs. He slowly walked around the chamber, ants parting to let him through without being harmed. Everyone was tense. He stopped.

'So? Where is it?' He asked in a low, dangerous voice. 'Where's my food!' he bellowed. Everybody cowered before his anger.

'Uh . . . Isn't it up there?' I asked, petrified, trying to think what to do.

'What!' he started to walk towards me. My body felt rigid and I was beginning to panic.

'T-the food was on a l-leaf sitting on top . . .' I stammered, wishing I hadn't said anything.

'Excuse me!' he roared at me. I hesitated.

'You're sure it's not up there?' Any confidence I had ebbed away. He came right up to me.

'Are you saying I'm stupid?'

'No.' I replied quietly, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

'Do I look stupid, to you? Let's just think about the logic shall we? Let's just think about it for a second. If it was up there, would I be coming down here, to your level, looking for it!' He put his face right up against mine. I didn't know what to say. I felt embarrassed.

'Why am I even talking to you? You're not the Queen.' He started smelling me with his antennae! It felt absolutely gross! It was so creepy that I can't even describe how horrible it felt!

I shuddered. 'You don't smell like the Queen.'

'She, she's learning to take over from me, Hopper.' My mother told him. To my immense relief he stopped smelling me. Petal whimpered. I felt very bad. She had come to me for protection and safety, and, because of me she was in the worst possible position and I couldn't to a thing for her.

'Oh, I see!' said Hopper sarcastically, 'Under new management,' He rounded on me, 'so it's your fault.'

'No!' I answered hurriedly, panicking more than ever. 'It wasn't me! It was . . .' I tried to pick Flik out but he dodged out of view, I can't say it surprised me, what a coward!

'Uh, uh, ah! First rule of leadership: everything is your fault!' I stuttered, doing an extremely bad job of saying much at all to defend myself. He sat me down on the rock I had been standing on, Petal hurriedly moved away. I leaned back, trying to get as far away from Hopper as possible. I was felt incredibly anxious, the things that he could do were countless, each worse than the last. 'It's a bug-eat-bug world out there, Princess. Now, let me tell you how things are supposed to talk: the sun grows the food, the ants pick the food, the grasshoppers eat the food . . .'

'And the birds eat the grasshoppers!' I turned. To my astonishment another grasshopper was speaking wildly with enthusiasm. What a fool! 'Hey!' he continued 'Like the one that nearly ate you! You 'member! You 'member!' I stared, my expression completely blank. Hopper had almost been eaten by a bird? At least there was something insect about him. . .

'This blue jay, has Hopper half-way down his throat, okay? And Hopper, Hopper's kicking and screaming. And I'm scared, I'm not going anywhere near . . .' Hopper was heading for him, now he was for it. I couldn't help feeling slightly sorry for the grasshopper. 'Oh, come on! It's a great story . . .' Hopper flung him against the wall.

'I swear, if I hadn't promised mother on her death bin, that I wouldn't kill you, I'd kill you!' He would kill his own brother? What would he do to the rest of us if we said a word against him?

'And believe me no one appreciates that more than I do.' The other grasshopper replied.

'Shut up! I don't want to hear another word out of you while we're on this island, do you understand me?' He asked fiercely. The grasshopper whimpered. Hopper slammed him against the wall again. 'I said do you understand me!'

'Well, how can I answer, you said I couldn't say another word. Da! Remember Ma!' Hopper was incredibly angry. He punched a nearby grasshopper to the ground. Petal whimpered again.

'Don't worry, Petal, I won't let him touch you . . .' I whispered to her.

'Oh, really, Princess.' I turned, horrified. Hopper had heard me!

'W-well, s-she h-hasn't done anything wrong.' I answered nervously, trying not to make him madder than he already was. He glared at me. Then changed his expression,

'Hey! I'm a compassionate insect! There's still a few months 'til the rains come, so you can all just try again.'

'But, Hopper, since it's almost the rainy season, we need this time to gather food for ourselves.' Explained my mother.

'Listen, if you don't keep your end of the bargain, then I can't guarantee your safety, and, there are insects out there who will take advantage of you. Someone could get hurt . . .' he snapped his fingers. Everyone turned in alarm. We could hear wild screaming. The creature came into view. It was a grasshopper but much more frightening than any ordinary grasshopper. Two other grasshoppers were holding it back. It looked incredibly vicious. 'This is Thumper and he'll be dealing with any ant who thinks they know better than to stay in line . . .' said Hopper glaring round at us all.

'Would it eat me?' Petal asked me quietly, shivering.

'No,' I replied 'grasshoppers are vegetarians.' But even though I knew that I couldn't help wondering about this one.

'He'd happily rip you to pieces, though!' said Hopper, smiling evilly down at her from his great height. Petal gulped. 'And while he's at it, he could have a good go at you too, Princess . . .'

'Leave them alone!' came a voice; unnaturally high and nervous, but nevertheless knew what they wanted to say. We all looked round. Who had said it? No one seemed to know.

'Who said that! Ha!' yelled Hopper. No answer, no one came forward, no one admitted it was them. I couldn't say I blamed them; they'd probably have been ripped to pieces by Thumper.

'It seems to me that you ants are forgetting your place. So let's double the order of food.' Everyone gasped in horror. We would never be able to get that much food! 'We'll be back at the end of the season, when the last leaf falls.' We all stared at him horror struck. 'You ants have a nice summer.' Then to his gang, 'Let's ride!' They rose, shouting, through the holes that they had made in the anthill. They were gone. For now.

For a few seconds we just stood silently, relieved that the grasshoppers were gone. Then we all turned towards Flik. This whole thing was totally his fault; everything would have been fine if it wasn't for him and his screw ups!

'Every worker and male go outside and start collecting more food except for the following . . .' my mother said sighing. She gave a list of names who would be repairing the anthill and then, Mr. Soil, Dr Flora, Thorny, Cornelius and Flik, who were to go to the Council Chamber. Flik gave a nervous laugh. I scowled at him.

'Atta, a quick word.' Said my Mother. I nodded, wondering what was coming. 'Atta it's very nice to stand up for that little girl but . . .'

'I wasn't exactly standing up for her, it was an accident Hopper heard what I said to her!'

'Be that as it may, our best policy right now is appeasement . . .'

'What?' I asked, confused.

'Appeasement, it means giving small things up in order to obtain peace.' She explained. That was our best policy? Surely if you give a little the grasshoppers would take advantage and demand more and more? And how could you call the amount of food with give up little?

'So it basically means giving up more and more and hoping for the best?' She gave me a look and sighed.

'If you must think of it that way.'

* * *

'So let me get this straight: you ran as fast as you could to the offering stone with that thing you were wearing,' Flik nodded, 'you took it off and left it on the offering stone, but it was still working and fell off,'

'Yes,' he answered, subdued.

'a release mechanism hit one of the stacks that was holding up the offering stone and dislodged it, sending all the food into the water!' He looked at the floor. 'Flik, what do you have to say for yourself?'

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry for the way I am. I didn't mean for things to go so wrong. I especially didn't wanna make you look bad, Princess.'

'Well, Flik. Ya did!' I snapped at him. I had been utterly humiliated in front of the entire colony! As if they didn't think that I was completely hopeless already . . .

'I was just trying to help.' He droned on. Oh, yeah! Really helpful!

'Well then help us,' replied Mr. Soil, 'don't help us!'

'Flik, you are sentenced to one month digging in the tunnel.'

'Excuse me, your highness,' interrupted Thorny 'need I remind you of Flik's tunnel-within-a-tunnel project. Took the whole engineering department three days to dig him out, send him to help in the ant service . . .'

'Heavens! No!' cried Dr Flora. They all started arguing amongst themselves. How were we supposed to figure this one out? Whatever Flik did he messed up in someway . . .

'It's perfect!' shouted Flik. We all looked round at him in amazement.

'Perfect? What's so perfect?' my mother asked, slightly alarmed.

'Your majesty, don't you see? We should send someone to get help!' We all gasped in utter bewilderment.

'Leave the island?' I said finding it hard to believe what he had just suggested. It was absolutely rediciculous!

'Oh, why didn't I think of that?' questioned my mother sarcastically, 'Oh, because it's suicide!'

'She's right!' replied Thorny 'We never leave the island, there's snakes and birds and bigger bugs out there!'

'Exactly! Bigger bugs! We could go get bigger bugs to come here and fight and forever rid us of Hopper and his gang!' announced Flik enthusiastically.

'Ludicrous!' exclaimed Mr. Soil.

'Who would do a crazy thing like that?' asked Dr Flora.

'I'd volunteer! I'd be very happy to volunteer!' answered Flik. It seemed that, once again, he could not hear our tones of objection to his ideas. My mother laughed.

'You've got a lot of spunk, kid, but no ones going to help a bunch of ants . . .'

'At least we could try. Oh! O could travel to the City! I could search there!' Flik exclaimed. He was just as crazy as his ideas!

'If you went you'd be on that silly search for weeks!' I replied.

'Royal Huddle!' signaled Thorny. Why would we need a huddle? 'Great idea, Princess, it's perfect!'

'Exactly!' agreed Cornelius.

'Wait a minute, what did we just decide here?' I asked feeling very confused.

'To let Flik leave.' Explained Mr. Soil.

'While we keep harvesting to meet Hopper's demands.' Continued Cornelius. Dr Flora spoke:

'You see with Flik gone . . .' I realized what it would mean. It was absolutely brilliant and solved a large quantity of our problems.

'He can't mess anything up!'


	3. Chapter 3

'Flik, after much deliberation we have decided to grant you your request.' I told him.

'Really?' he asked

'Really?' asked my mother

'Um, really.' I answered nervously wondering what reaction I was going to get. Flik raced up to me and shock my hand enthusiastically,

'Oh! Thank you, Princess, thank you so much for this chance! I won't let you down! I promise! I promise! I promise!'

'Forget it, forget it.' I said trying to calm him down.

'Shouldn't I help repair some of the damage before I go, don't you think?'

'No!' We all shouted at once.

'Just go!' I insisted,

'Just leave!'

The next day everybody stopped what they were doing. We watched Flik walk through the colony and into the distance to start his 'search'. As soon as he was out of sight, we all cheered. I couldn't help feeling ever so slightly guilty, but at least we could now get on with the harvesting without any extra problems.

* * *

Three days had past and what a three days they had been. They had droned on and on. The males and workers were totally exhausted. Many had fallen from their lack of energy and dehydration, and had had to be taken to the infirmary. The pile of food was small; it was getting harder all the time to find food. I was standing next to the offering stone, wringing my hands and watching the extremely slow process of the workers. As I watched, one of them fell. I quickly flew over and called for Dr Flora who ran over.

'Oh, not another one!' she cried. She gave the ant some water.

'This is insane!' said Thorny who had also come over along with Cornelius.

'Insane!' repeated Cornelius.

'There's simply not enough food left on the island,' continued Thorny, 'no way we can make double quarters before Hopper comes back!'

'Well, we have to try, Thorny,' I answered 'we don't have any choice.' I helped Dr Flora take the ant to the infirmary. Thorny was right. We would never be able to get enough food for the grasshoppers and we needed to eat ourselves.

When we got to the infirmary we sat the ant down on a leaf. Dr Flora ran off to get some more water.

'Feeling any better, now?' I asked the ant. He nodded then spoke,

'I'm Cotton; I think you know my young friend, Reed?'

'Yes, she's very sweet.' I answered. Reed was one of the Blueberry Scouts. The Blueberry Scouts seemed to be very keen on me especially Petal, who would go out of her way to talk to me if she spotted me. Dr Flora returned with water.

'You'd better get above ground, your highness, there's some sort of commotion going on.' I left them and headed for the tunnel entrance. Mr. Soil was at the top of it.

'Flik has returned.' He told me.

'He's back?' I cried out utterly amazed.

'And he's accompanied by savage insects.' He continued. I flew up to him. I was completely bemused.

'What! How! He wasn't actually supposed to find someone!' I said exasperated, looking down to see the rest of the colony emerging from hiding and surrounding a group of large bugs plus Flik.

I flew over the crowd and landed in front of it to get a clear view. There were nine of them: two pill bugs, a stick bug, a preying mantis, a ladybug, a black widow spider, a caterpillar, a rhino beetle and a gypsy moth.

'Oh, Princess Atta!' It was Flik. He came running over to me. 'Hey, guys! This is Princess Atta. She's the one that sent me to find you!' He told the big bugs.

'That beetle looks absolutely ferocious!' said Mr. Soil, impressed.

'They're our ticket out of this mess!' exclaimed Thorny.

'They came just in time too!' added Dr Flora.

'That's right!' remarked Cornelius. Flik turned to me, grinning,

'So, Princess Atta, what, what do you think?' I hesitated then turned to the others.

'Wait a minute, this was not supposed to happen!' my voice filled with anxiety; 'We don't fight grasshoppers!' I continued.

'We don't, but they will!' pointed out Thorny. Then the ladybug spoke,

'Your majesty, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, our troupe here guarantees a performance like no other, why when your grasshopper friends get here, we are going to knock them dead!' Everybody cheered, everyone that was except me. I couldn't believe it. No, I mean I actually couldn't believe it. The way the ladybug had talked, how they looked. They looked more like a bunch of clowns! Clowns couldn't fight grasshoppers! And if they were clowns, what did Flik think he was doing? Probably one of his crazy schemes that never worked.

My mother arranged a party to celebrate the arrival of the 'Warrior' bugs, worrier bugs more like. Did they even know what they had come to supposedly do? Had Flik tricked them?

Some ants were playing some music but I wasn't really paying attention to them. I was looking suspiciously at the bugs and Flik, who was sitting next to me. No doubt enjoying the attention.

'Honey, relax,' said my mother, who was sitting on the other side of me, 'you should be proud of yourself. Your instinct on that boy went right on the money.' I gave a fake smile. Once she had looked away I dropped it and continued to look suspiciously at the bugs and Flik. The music ended and we all clapped. 'And to make our official welcome complete,' said my mother 'Mr. Soil,'

'Yes, your highness.' He answered.

'He's our resident thespian.' My mother told the gypsy moth, 'Last year he played the lead in Picnic!' She laughed.

'The children, and myself,' Mr. Soil began 'have quickly put together a little presentation in honor of our guests. Kevin, Reed, Daisy, Grub.' He beckoned four kids forward. Reed and Daisy carried a rolled up leaf. Grub stepped forward,

'The South Tunnel, Elementary School, Second Grade Class, would like to present you with this,' Daisy and Reed unrolled the leaf. 'a mirror we have drawn of you bugs helping us fight the grasshoppers away.' The picture involved a lot of blood, dead grasshoppers and one dead caterpillar. I was wondering how the 'Warrior' bugs would take to this.

'Oh, look at all the beautiful colors of the blood.' Said the spider sounding uncertain.

'I tell you a tale,' announced Mr. dramatically strumming on his lute, 'of heroes so bold who vanquished our grasshopper enemies of old!' Blossom and the others moved aside with the leaf to present three more children, one dressed up as a leaf. He fell backwards.

'Look! The last leaf has fallen!' said one of them. A group of children ran in,

'We are the grasshoppers!' They shouted 'Where's our food?'

'Who will come to save us poor ants?' Another group of children ran in,

'We are the warriors here to defend you!' Sometime later, the performance was almost at an end for almost all the 'grasshoppers' and 'warriors' were dead. The children who were putting on the play could probably fight better than the 'real' ones, I thought bitterly.

'And die, die,' everyone burst into applause. The play was at an end.

'Okay, honey, you're up,' my mother told me. I felt a feeling of dread.

'Oh . . . um . . .' I stood up. No one was actually listening or paying the slightest bit of attention to me.

'We are all very, very grateful to have the warriors . . .' suddenly my voice was much louder, everyone was looking at me. I looked down to see I was holding some kind of contraption which had somehow made my voice louder. I looked over at Flik. He gave me the thumbs us. 'Thanks,' I murmured then cleared my throat, 'First of all, I'd like to thank the warriors for helping us in our fight against the grasshoppers.' Everyone cheered, it made me feel more confident, 'Secondly, I'd like to thank, Flik, for his forthright thinking,' I felt I was being slightly sarcastic. Flik grabbed the megaphone.

'Thank you, your highness. Oh, sure, I'd like to take the credit for all of this but that wouldn't be right, 'cause it was you, Princess Atta,' My stomach gave a lurch, 'you believed in me and you sent me on my quest,' I felt a surge of something like guilt, I hadn't believed in him, never had, I had just sent on that quest to get rid of him! I had never expected him to come back, never mind succeed in the quest! And I didn't believe him now either! 'Now, I know that I've made a lot of mistakes in the past and I hope this will make up . . .' the spider was whispering to him. He paused then continued making his speech. 'Yeah, I truly believe that these bugs are the answer to our . . .' the spider had been whispering to him again. What had she been telling him?

Flik looked round at the bugs, then burst into action. He dropped his megaphone and ran over to me sending several things to the ground, 'Your highness,' he shock my hand rather hard, 'the warrior bugs have called for a secret meeting to plan for circus, um, circumventing so they trapeze, trap then with ease.'

'Well, shouldn't I come too?' I asked still trying to make sense of what he had just said.

'No!' then he laughed 'Sorry, classified in the D.M.T. gotta go A.S.A.P., you know strictly B.Y.O.B. Bye!' He was half walking, half running off, 'Sorry, sorry, I've got to take the warriors away so early but they have a lot to get done with the battle looming and all. So, please, everyone, do enjoy the party!'

'B.Y.O.B?' What was he on about? I knew what B.Y.O.B. meant; it meant Bring Your Own Booze! I got up and ran towards the stalks they had gone through. 'Flik!' I called 'I really do think I should be part of this meeting! Flik!' A blade of grass was pulled across to reveal Flik's face.

'Ah, Princess Atta! What a nice surprise.' He said rather awkwardly.

'Just what exactly is going on?' I asked, rather agitated, 'I'd like to speak with these so-called 'warriors.''

'Well, you can't,' he answered, fiddling with a blade of grass, 'I mean they're in the middle of a top secret meeting right now, and shouldn't be disturbed right now.' He turned his head. I was getting fed up with this nonsense. 'Right, guys?' No reply came. 'Could you excuse me please?' asked Flik before disappearing again. I put my hands on my hips, what was the point of all this? It was making me feel really stressed out. 'Wait! Wait! Please don't go!' came Flik's voice from some distance away.

'I'm not going anywhere! What is going on!' I pushed the blades of grass aside. No one in sight. 'Flik!' I shouted 'Flik!' I turned away, frustrated. 'Oh! I knew it!' I hesitated, not sure exactly what I should do. I could either run and tell my mother that I thought Flik was up to something or I could follow him and find out exactly what was going down.

I paused, then ran after him. Mother would think me a fool, but if I did find out what Flik was doing and everything, it would be well worth it. I took flight. There was no sign of Flik or the other bugs. I sighed. Maybe I should turn back . . .

Suddenly, I heard muffled shouts. I hurried towards the sound. I had reached the dry river bed. I dived down. I could see the various bugs were scattered. None of them noticed me. They were running and flying in all different directions. I spotted Flik. I landed behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned. He looked absolutely horrified.

'Alright, Flik what exactly . . .'

'Atta! Behind you!' he screamed in a panic. I heard a chirping sound. I rapidly turned. In front of me was a huge red bird.


	4. Chapter 4

I was rooted to the spot by sheer terror. I stared up at this fire colored monster. One of its talons was raised. It was going to strike. Suddenly, I was pushed aside, head over heals, hitting rock. I felt slightly dazed and my left wing hurt. I looked back to where I had been. Flik lay injured on the ground, the bird looming above him. I gasped. Without thinking, I ran over to him.

'Flik! Flik! Are you okay? Please be okay!' The bird screeched. I grabbed Flik and tried to drag him away with extreme difficulty. I tried to fly but it was no use. The bird was getting closer and closer. I could hear my heart pounding. Suddenly we were grabbed from behind. I looked up to see that it was the bugs Flik had found that had come to our rescue. We were quickly put into a net the spider had made. I could hear the bird's chirping getting nearer.

'Hurry! Hurry!' I begged. The beetle rose into the air, carrying us upwards. I screamed. The bird was barely 4 inches away from us! The beetle increased his speed and was carrying us back towards Ant Island. The bird was ever closer.

'Hurry, Dim, hurry!' shrieked the spider. We just needed to get past the thorn plant and then we would be alright but weather we were going to make it was another matter. The moth tried to distract the bird from the rest of us but this only worked temporarily and it soon was hunting the rest of us again. Were we going to make it and live to see another day? Or were we going to be eaten by this monstrous bird?

I knew I had been wrong about these bugs and I had been wrong about Flik. Now all I really wanted was to tell Flik how sorry I was but I didn't even know if he was still alive. I clung to him, seeking any sort of comfort that I could find and trying not to think about the bird's sharp beak and talons ripping into me.

The thorn plant was getting nearer; maybe we were going to make it! Maybe we weren't gong to die a horrible death after all! Come on! Please! The bird was so close that I could feel its breathe. I screamed. I covered my eyes. There was a thump. Everything still. I could hear muffled sound. Was I dead? I uncovered my eyes. I looked round and saw the other bugs close by. We were sitting on leaves. I looked behind me and saw the thorn plant and the bird flying into the distance. We had made it.

Below us was the entire colony and they were applauding. Flik was by my side but he wasn't moving. I felt a pit in my stomach. What if he was never going to move again? What if he was . . . The warrior bugs helped us to get down to the ground. I called for Dr Flora over the noise and desperately hoped that she could help Flik in some way. Suddenly, I was grabbed by my mother and hugged.

'You're alive!' she breathed 'We were all certain that you would all die.'

'So did I,' I admitted gravely.

'Your highness?' I turned to see Dr Flora, 'Your wing?'

'Don't bother about that now! It's Flik.'

'Flik?' asked my mother, 'What happened to him?'

'The bird sort of attacked him. I don't know weather he's alive or . . . or . . .' I couldn't bear to say it. We ran over to him and Dr Flora began to examine him. My mother turned to me,

'What do you mean 'sort of attacked him'?' I hesitated.

'The bird was aiming for me, b-but, but Flik pushed me out the way . . .' they both looked shocked. I held my breath and looked at Dr Flora.

'It's okay, your highness, he's just been knocked out, he'll probably come round sometime soon,' I let out a sigh of relief. 'His wounds will need to be treated in the infirmary and so will your wing!'


	5. Chapter 5

'Don't worry, Atta! I 'm sure he will come round soon!' I still felt troubled by it. 'Bet he's having lots of dreams about you!'

'Ivy!' she laughed

'Sorry! Couldn't resist that one!' My wing had only suffered very slight damage and I would be able to fly again in just a couple of days but Flik was still unconscious and I was incredibly worried about him. 'Hey, Atta!' said Ivy, changing the subject, 'Do you remember in the first grade when Martha tried to punch you and she ended up hurting herself instead!' she asked laughing.

'Yes, I remember!' remembering Martha crashing into a stalk and then crying because she had a 'booboo'!

'Hey! Atta! Atta! Princess!' I turned to see Petal running towards me. She stopped in front of me puffing out her chest feeling important. 'I came to tell you from Dr Flora that she reckons Flik's waking up!' I gasped with relief and delight. Then turned to the both of them.

'I'm going to go and see him!' I told them.

'Eww, going to see to see Flik, are you!' said Petal, grinning

'What's that's supposed to mean?' I asked

'Nothing,' she answered, giggling. I turned and ran towards the anthill. In the background I could hear Petal and Ivy giggling. I scurried down the tunnel and to the infirmary.

'Dr Flora! Dr Flora!' I shouted. She came into view.

'That was quick!' she commented.

'Is he awake yet?' I asked timidly,

'Yes, I'll go and tell him you want to see him.' She went past the curtain of leaves, 'Flik, you have a visitor.'

'I do?' came Flik's voice which sounded almost normal. Dr Flora turned and beckoned me in. I felt rather timid as I entered. Dr Flora went outside. For a few moments me and Flik just stared at each other. He looked quite surprised to see me.

'Um, how are you feeling?' I asked.

'Um, well, not too bad,' he answered but I could tell he wasn't being entirely truthful. He was obviously in quite a lot of pain. I sat down beside him. He gave a small nervous smile. I smiled back. Then he noticed my wing. 'What happened to your wing? How did it happen?'

'It'll be fine. It will be as good as new in a couple of days.' I answered hastily 'Only a very slight injury.' I didn't want him to know that it had happened when he had pushed me out of the way of the bird. But by the look on his face I could tell that he had already worked it out.

'I'm . . . I'm sorry.'

'Don't be silly, it wasn't your fault! If you hadn't pushed me out the way, I would have been . . .' I gazed at him. 'Well, I wouldn't be here to tell you anything, you were really brave doing what you did for me.' He looked slightly embarrassed. 'I read you all wrong,' I continued, 'When you first brought the warriors here I thought they were a bunch of clowns.'

'You did?' he asked, then laughed a little.

'Don't tell 'em I said that. Boy, that's all I need. Another royal blunder like that!'

'Princess, you're doing a great job,' He did! Wowh! Did he really! I mean I knew I wasn't really believed in by anyone . . .

'Thanks, you're sweet. You're wrong but sweet. I know what everyone really thinks . . .'

'I don't follow you,' he answered.

'Everyone,' I replied sadly 'the whole colony. No one really believes I can do this job. It's like they're all watching me,' I explained 'just. . . just,' I couldn't think of a way to describe the critical watchfulness of the entire colony of myself.

'Waiting for you to screw up.' Answered Flik in a daze of sadness. I could tell that he had had experience of a similar thing and I felt a pang of guilt.

'Flik, I owe you an apology,' I began.

'For what?' he asked.

'Well, I haven't been particularly nice to you,' I admitted, 'and, I'm sorry. If there's anyway I can make it up to you just say and I'll do my very best to do what you need . . .'

'Don't worry about that, you didn't mean to be. You have enough to worry about. It must be really stressful for you being Princess and all.'

'Yeah, kinda is,' I gave a deep almost happy sigh. I leaned towards him . . .

'Your highness!' I quickly drew back. It was Dr Flora. 'You are needed in Tunnel 5; there's been some sort of land slide!' I sighed heavily,

'Sorry, Flik, I've gotta go,' He nodded. I got up and noticed that Dr Flora looked slightly awkward. How much had she seen? Did she know what I had been about to do? 'I'll be back as soon as I can, Flik,' I told him before leaving and heading for Tunnel 5 with Dr Flora behind me.

Not far from the entrance of Tunnel 5 was a group of workers.

'What happened here?' I asked the east tunnels manager.

'I'm not entirely sure, Princess. I think it was something to do with a new tunnel being dug too close to two other tunnels causing the two tunnels and the unfinished tunnel to collapse. I think some workers have been buried under the earth.' I nodded then said,

'Well, they to be dug out and fast. Um . . . are some workers on the job or . . . uh are they just around, not really knowing what to do? Do we need to get any males into help?'

The whole thing was so nerve wracking.

'There are some workers ready on command to dig and Cotton came to help, but he's the only male here,' I nodded and went further down the tunnel.

'Hey Atta!' It was Ivy. I turned towards her. Her expression changed. 'Atta your face is all flushed! Did you get rejected?'

'WHAT?' I asked in amazement. She grinned.

'Just wondering!' she added. I cleared my throat,

'Alright girls,' I began,

'Hey!' said Cotton indignantly,

'Plus Cotton,' I added, 'get ready to dig. But . . . um . . . remember to be careful and quick.' Ivy gave me the thumbs up. 'Okay, start digging.' To my astonishment every single ant obeyed. Very soon one of the workers called over to me to say they had found someone. I ran over. 'Cotton?' I asked, confused, 'I swear you were . . .' He laughed.

'Na, I'm not Cotton! I'm Carlos!' he laughed again, 'I'm Cotton's clone! We look exactly the same except that I'm ever so slightly shorter!' Ivy had ran over,

'Hey! Carlos! Come over here and help me dig!' she said. He smiled and followed her.

'Hey, Princess! I've found someone!' shouted a worker not far away. I hurried over.

'Oh, no!' moaned the ant. Then another voice,

'Well it's about time too! Did you expect me to be able to adapt and breathe in dirt like a worm!' yelled an extremely agitated voice. It was Martha. She spotted me, 'Hey, Princess! What d'ya call this!'

'Hey! Shut up Martha!' shouted Ivy at the top of her voice. I sighed heavily and left Martha to her own devices. As I left she muttered something about 'useless'. I went over to Ivy and Carlos who were digging.

'How are you two getting on?' I asked trying to sound positive.

'Fine,' murmured Carlos through a mouthful of dirt. Ivy turned to me,

'Don't pay any attention to what Martha says. I swear she only exists to be unpleasant,' said Ivy, 'Oh, and moan! Can't forget that one very easily can we!' she added laughing. I smiled.

'Say, Carlos,' I asked, 'why were you down here in the first place?' He turned,

'Funny you should mention that, I had been sent down here because Thorny reckoned that the new tunnel would collapse if much more digging was done! He was obviously right!' he answered cheerfully. I smiled vaguely.

A moment later, 3 more ants were found,

'Alright, girls?' I asked. They coughed and spluttered.

'Yes, you highness.' Answered one of them, slightly croakily.

'Hey Atta! I think we've found someone!' shouted Ivy. It ended up being four ants who had apparently fallen on top of each other during the landslide out of panicking. They were relieved to be out of there and the one who had been on the bottom had to be taken to the infirmary.

'How many ants were down there?' I asked the east tunnels manager.

'There were half a score down there,' she answered 'so we need to find one more,'

'Did you include Carlos and yourself?' I asked.

'No, I didn't, that means we've found everyone.' She turned to the workers, 'Workers, stop digging!' Everybody stopped. 'Now, we need to repair this chamber, first . . .'

'Your highness, the Queen wants to see you,' said Dr Flora 'I think she wants to know how you handled the collapse.'

'Right,' I replied. I left the tunnel and headed for the Council Chamber where I guessed my Mother would be. I was correct. I entered. She smiled at me.

'So, how are you getting along with running things?' she asked me, 'I heard there was a landslide earlier.'

'Yes!' I told her, 'And everyone did what I said! It was amazing!' She laughed.

'And how's Flik?' I looked at her. Had Dr told her something?

'He's . . . he's fine. Feeling much better now' I answered hesitantly.

'Dr Flora said you were talking with him a lot earlier.' I nodded. 'Anything else you want to tell me?' My stomach clenched. She knew!

'No, nothing!' I replied quickly, almost in the way Petal had.

'I thought not.' She said. I could hear the sarcasm in her voice. I felt awkward.

'I . . . I' she laughed.

'It happens to every queen ant, dear, and even to some sterile workers . . .'

'What does?' I asked, confused. She laughed again.

'You'll see.'


	6. Chapter 6

'Well, me and Flik just wanted to thank you bugs ever so much for saving us from that bird.'

'Oh, you're too kind.' Replied the gypsy moth, flattered. The others nodded in agreement.

'It was very brave,' added Flik.

'Yes, even Hopper's afraid of birds.' I said. Flik's expression changed.

'He is?' he asked curiously.

'Yes,' I answered, 'and he almost got eaten by one before, didn't you hear that grasshopper say so . . .'

'Oh, yes, of course I did. I . . . I was just . . . surprised' I gave a small nod to him. A sudden thought occurred to me. No, it wasn't possible? Was it? After all I had seen him do. I would never have considered it at the time but now . . . Now things were different. I saw Flik in a new light.

The warrior bugs left the infirmary leaving me alone with Flik. He would be out of the infirmary tomorrow, and was feeling much better than before. I waited a moment, not sure how to ask.

'Um, Flik,' I began timidly.

'Yes, Princess?'

'Um, that day. When the grasshoppers came, did you? Did you do anything?' He looked queasy. I felt embarrassed. I had probably reminded him of knocking over the grain harvest. 'I mean, when the grasshoppers were in here, and Hopper was yelling at us,' He still looked awkward.

'I, I . . .' he murmured and looked at the ground. I was obviously making it worse for him so I decided to cut to the chase.

'Did, did you say anything to Hopper?' He looked up at me for a second then replied,

'Yes.' I knew it!

'It was you! You were the one who stood up for me and Petal!' I cried. He smiled vaguely. 'What's the matter?' I asked anxiously. He hesitated,

'I . . . I was a complete coward and hid away afterwards though, and then I didn't own up, and then, because of me, the amount of food was doubled, I screwed up again.' He finished, downcast.

'Anyone would hide! And if you had owned up, you probably would have been beaten up by Thumper!' I would hate to witness any ant facing such a fate. Particularly if they were doing something as courageous as that. I couldn't bear to think about Flik being doomed to such a fate. And then something else came to me. 'Earlier that day,' Flik looked up, 'when you made the telescope,' I paused. 'Were you? Were you, complimenting me? I asked, my nerves on end. He looked kinda embarrassed.

'Well, yeah . . .' he answered not looking up at me.

'You're so sweet, I like you a lot.' I told him.

'Really?' he asked nervously looking over to me. I smiled and nodded. He grinned.

'I . . . I like you a lot too.' He replied. I felt like I could fly even if I didn't have wings. He liked me a lot! Yes! It was like floating on air. I couldn't think of a time I had felt any better.

* * *

I was flying through golden fields. The wind was pleasantly cool and the plants bore many types of grain and fruit. There was a shape ahead. Flik! I sped up. He ran towards me. We stopped in front of each other. He took my hands in his. I could feel warmth flooding through me. We were getting closer to each other, and closer, and closer and . . .

'Atta?' Huh? 'Atta wake up! I'm sorry but it's time to get up now!' Everything went blurry and then a different setting, my Mother was above me. I felt incredibly disappointed. It had only been a dream! I sighed heavily. If only it could have been real! 'Look, I'm sorry to interrupt your pleasant dreams about Flik but-'

'How'd you know?' I spluttered sitting up sharply.

'You've been talking in your sleep. That wasn't your first dream about him while you've been asleep, dear.' I felt embarrassed. What had I been saying? Had anyone else heard me? The type of things I would have been saying I would never want anyone else to hear! Oh please say no one else heard me! 'By the way, Atta, when the sun is directly above you, we have a meeting with the warrior bugs in the Council Chamber. I think they've come up with a plan to get rid of the grasshoppers. Oh, and while we're on the subject of Flik, he came out of the infirmary not long ago . . .'

'Oh, good!' I said without thinking, standing up as quickly as I could. My Mother laughed. I felt slightly embarrassed and smiled awkwardly.

'Good morning, your highness,' said Dr Flora.

'Morning.' I replied. I wondered where Flik could be. I could see Ivy and Carlos sitting on a large rock chatting and the Blueberry Scouts assembled near the Clover Forest but no Flik. The Blueberry Scouts noticed me and jumped up and came running towards me.

'Hi, Princess!' they chimed,

'Hey Atta!' said Petal enthusiastically.

'Hello girls,' I replied 'How are you?'

'We were just talking about you!' said Reed.

'Yeah,' said Blossom, 'and someone else . . .' my stomach gave a surge. They had probably been talking about me and Flik. The girls were grinning.

'So sweet!' said another. I felt embarrassed.

'Sorry girls, gotta go, lots to do before the Council Meeting.' I told them. I was beginning to feel rather awkward.

'Okay!'

'Bye, Atta!' (That was Reed)

'See you later, Princess,'

Flik was in the South-West Tunnel last time I saw him.' Petal whispered to me before running after the other girls. I hurried to the South-West Tunnel but he wasn't there. I enquired about his whereabouts but no one knew but that he had left not that long ago. It took me ages to find him. He was standing close to the rock Ivy and Carlos had been previously sitting.

'Flik! I've been looking all over for you!' He turned towards me smiling awkwardly. I smiled back, running towards him.

'Hi, Princess.'

'Enough with this formal stuff, just call me Atta.' I insisted. He looked quite flattered. 'How are you feeling?' I asked him.

'Oh, much better,' he answered cheerfully.

'I'm so glad!' We stood silent for a moment.

'How about you?' he asked, 'I'll bet you're pretty busy with running everything.'

'Not entirely busy . . .' I answered, almost playfully.

'Awesome! I mean awesome for you . . . I mean, well . . .' I looked towards the sky. The sun was almost directly above me.

'Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry. I have to be at a Council Meeting soon!' I started to head towards the anthill,

'Atta! Wait!' Flik called after me. I stopped.

'Yes.' He ran up to me and kissed me on the cheek and then ran towards the Clover Forest. I put my finger tips up to my cheek where he had just kissed it. Wow! Had he just done what I thought he had done? It felt like heaven. Complete bliss.

My day dream was interrupted by the sound of giggling close by. I looked around. Who was it? Where were they? I looked behind the rock. Ivy and Petal were crouching behind it, trying unsuccessfully to smother their laughter. I gave a loud cough. They abruptly stopped laughing and turned to look at me. For a moment they were silent. A second later, however, they burst into shields of giggles again.

'He kissed you!' blurted out Ivy, having no success in covering up her laughter. Petal had more success.

'What did it feel like?' She asked awestruck.

'Like . . . like,' how could I describe it to a young girl? I thought, trying to ignore Ivy complaining about stomach pains she had because she couldn't stop laughing. I looked to the sky and realized with a jolt that I should be at the Council Meeting. 'I'm late!' I cried 'I should be at a Council Meeting!' I ran towards the anthill as swiftly as I could. I arrived at the Council Chamber puffing and panting. 'Sorry!' I said, still trying to regain my breath.

'It's okay, Princess,' said the black widow spider, 'we were a little late ourselves.' I took my place.

'So, uh, well . . . what's your proposal?' I asked them.

'A fake bird,' began the ladybug,

'As big as a normal one, which can be operated from the inside,' continued the stick bug. I stared at them. They produced a modal.

'Which would be raised above the anthill,' explained the preying mantis 'and hidden high in the tree. Then when Hopper and his gang are below, we launch the bird and scare off those grasshoppers. It would require everyone's involvement.' We had a royal huddle.

'What do the rest of you think?' I asked.

'Brilliant.'

'Brilliant.'

'And the grasshoppers would never suspect it was a fake!' answered Mr. Soil.

'No, they would leave as fast as possible and be too scared to return!' added Dr Flora.

'I absolutely agree.' I told them. We came out of our huddle and turned to the warrior bugs. I took a deep breathe, 'We are all in agreement, that the plan should go ahead.' I told them. They smiled. We left the Council Chamber and I was thinking deeply how to organize it. Flik was near the tunnel entrance. I rushed up to him, 'Flik, we are going to make a bird!'


	7. Chapter 7

'Mother, I'm not sure about this . . .'

'Oh, come now, you've made speeches before, dear.'

'Yes, but it doesn't stop me feeling nervous!'

'Why don't you use that megaphone Flik gave you? That's sure to make it easier for you!' she suggested.

'Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten about that!' I felt better knowing I would have the megaphone while making my speech telling the rest of the colony about the Bird later that day.

I told Flik about having to make a speech and how anxious I was about doing it.

'Don't be,' he told me, 'I'm sure you'll do brilliantly.' I felt a gush of pleasure.

'Really?'

'Yes of course! You just need a little confidence in yourself!' I smiled. He really thought I could do it? And not only do it but do it well? I felt so much more confident knowing he believed in me.

'We are going to build a Bird,' I began, 'One that will be life size, one which will be realistic, one which will scare the grasshoppers away forever. It will be built to be operated from the inside; it's going to take everyone's involvement to make this plan a reality. I know it's not our tradition to do things differently, but if our ancestors were able to build this anthill, we can certainly rally together to build this bird!' Everyone cheered and I felt immensely relieved to have finished. We would need to start work straight away. Now, how were we going to do this? Fall had arrived, therefore the leaves would look like birds' feathers, twigs could be the main construction, and for the beak? An acorn! That would be convincing too . . .

* * *

'Flik?'

'Yeah?'

'For the Bird . . .' He suddenly had wrapped attention. 'We're using twigs for the main construction, but how will we hold them together?' He thought for a moment,

'Hum, dew wouldn't work . . . Hey! I know! Spider webs!'

'Brilliant! You're a genius!'

'Oh . . . well . . . I wouldn't say genius . . . but . . .'

'You're too modest, Flik!' He looked half embarrassed, half amused by my comment. It was true though, every impossible problem I had asked him about, he had been able to find an answer to. I couldn't help admiring him.

Although it hadn't been that long ago we had started to work on the Bird, we had made much progress. It had also been Flik's idea to get the preying mantis and gypsy moth to fly up with an outline of the Bird towards the sun and cast a shadow so we could see the shape of it. And it had also been his idea to add a shell to the inside so that convincing bird sounds could be made to be heard.

The whole colony was keen to work on the Bird and some were even finding it fun. Well, almost everyone. Martha remained stubborn and agitated. She thought that 'that stupid bird' was one of the worst things that had ever happened. The rest of us ignored her and told her to just get on with working. Ivy, on the other hand, was amused by Martha's attitude and kept doing impressions of her which made everybody laugh.

* * *

Ants were climbing up the tree to get to the leaves. They would jump onto them, causing them to be become removed from their branches. Some ants, like Flik and Ivy, were quite excited at the prospect but others were terrified. Martha, on the over hand had, um, a very unique opinion.

'I know exactly what's going on here!' Martha was shouting at smiling Ivy who was finding it hard not to laugh. Everybody else stopped what they were doing to listen in on the conversation. I flew up to find out what was going on. 'This is all some kinda plot to get rid of me! I'm not stupid!' I was finding it difficult not to laugh too.

'It's perfectly safe, Martha!' I said, smiling.

'Whatever!' Ivy pushed Martha onto the nearest leaf which snapped off its branch and started to fall. Martha started cursing Ivy loudly. Ivy jumped onto a leaf with a shout of 'wahoo!' Everyone else had started to move again.

'Hey, Atta! You don't know what you're missing!' cried Ivy. Flik had jumped and was using his leaf to surf wildly round in the air. I laughed. It looked like he was really enjoying himself. I flew to the ground, avoiding several ants on leaves as I did so.

'Everybody, once you've reached the ground, get in line with your leaf and add it to the pile of leaves accumulating next to the Bird!' I commanded. I started to organize the line of workers and males. Flik gave me a smile and a wave. I waved and smiled back. 'Okay, once you've put your leaf down on the pile,' I continued, 'help to put the leaves onto the Bird.'

'You're doing really well, Atta.' Flik whispered to me as he passed. I felt immense joy.

* * *

Everything was going perfectly and the Bird was almost complete. The last of the leaves had been attached and Cornelius was securing the binding as I watched. He gave me a nod. I nodded back.

'Okay!' I shouted. Everyone pulled and the Bird began to rise. I flew down to help. When it was high enough, the dung beetle pushed it into a gap in the tree. Carlos and Cotton secured a beam to keep it in place with the help of Ivy holding it steady while 4 other ants secured a rock which would be launched to release the Bird. It was complete. We all cheered. We had done it. We had successfully built this magnificent structure. It had taken a lot of work and effort but we had done it.

'Brilliant work, everyone! Very well done!' I called over everyone's cheering. Flik rushed over to me,

'We did it!' he cried. I hugged him. I felt so happy there in his arms with the prospect of the grasshoppers' defeat. They would arrive that night and we would be ready for them. Nothing could possibly go wrong now. The plan would go smoothly and with Flik by my side all the way, it would be impossible to fail.

* * *

The evening had fallen and we were having a party in honor of the Bird. Everyone was enjoying themselves more than they had in any time I could remember. Many ants had joined the conga line or were hanging around chatting. Ivy and Carlos were dancing together and laughing at the same time. Even Martha was having trouble covering up the fact that she was enjoying herself!

'Hey, Princess!' I looked over to see that it was a male ant slightly older than myself with wings and slightly gray skin tone who had called over to me, 'Wanna try the limbo!' I hesitated, not sure what to say to this male ant, that I only recognized by sight. The rest of the colony started to cheer me on.

'Uh . . . okay.' I answered. He gave a small smile. I limbowed under the stick insect. When I had finished, everybody clapped. I laughed a little.

'I'm Myrmica,' said the male, smiling, 'maybe I'll see you around sometime.'

'Right.' I answered trying to return his smile before walking away. There was something about him which made me feel ever so slightly awkward. I caught site of Flik talking to the Warrior Bugs.' I wandered over. 'Would you look at this colony?' I said to them, 'Would you just look at this colony? I don't even recognize them!' By this time, Ivy and Carlos had decided to do the can-can, Petal was dancing wildly round in circles with a male friend of hers she appeared to have dragged along,

'Petal! I'm getting dizzy!' he informed her, 'Is it almost time to change direction?' Everybody laughed.

'And I have you bugs to thank for it, so, thank you.' I told them. I turned to Flik, 'And thank you for finding 'em, Flik.' I put my finger tips on his shoulder, giving me a slight feeling of something like static and pleasure.

'Me?' He turned rapidly, causing our antennae to get twisted together.

'Opps!' I said giggling.

'I'll get it,' he said, sounding somewhere between amused and pleased, 'I mean, if you don't mind, I'll just . . .'

'It's all tangled up . . .' I unnecessarily added. Flik started to try to untangle our antennae. I could feel a strange sensation going through mine as he did so. I couldn't help wishing slightly that our antennae were even more twisted. I could still feel it even once Flik had untangled them. We gazed at each other feeling a little embarrassed. I hesitated, not sure if I should ask or not. However, Flik spoke first:

'Um, wanna dance?' I could tell he was rather worried about asking.

'Sure!' I answered, my heart filling with joy. I had wanted to ask him the same thing! I took his had and we wondered over to where everyone else was dancing. Ivy turned her head towards us. Petal stopped causing her friend to fall over. Me and Flik grinned at each other. Carlos had turned towards us. Many others had stopped what they were doing and were looking at us. Some were smiling, others looking utterly amazed, some of the workers were giggling, Martha was scowling.

Flik took my other hand and we started to dance. It felt wonderful, like all trouble was obliterated from the world, like a dream, no, it was better than a dream; it was better than anything I had ever felt before, I could have stayed like it forever except . . .

'They're back!' someone cried. The sirens were going off! The grasshoppers! They had returned! I raced into the air and into action.

'Battle Stations everyone! This is not a drill! Come on everyone you know your jobs! Let's go! Go! Go! Go!' Suddenly, behind me, out of no where, a wagon came flying towards me. I screamed and dived out the way. Ants ran out the way as it landed. Everyone gathered around it. On top of the wagon was a flea. I wandered over, 'Mother, what's going on?' I asked her.

'Apparently he's looking for a bunch of circus performers.' Circus performers? I had suspected the warrior bugs were circus bugs, what if . . ? No, if Flik says they're warrior bugs, they're warrior bugs. The flea disappeared. We all went behind the wagon. He was talking to the warrior bugs, perhaps he was asking them if they'd seen his circus performers, as we approached,

' . . . and then we do it all over again,' he was saying, 'we'll be the top circus act in the business!' What? No! This wasn't possible!

'You mean,' I asked, hoping against hope there was some sort of mistake, 'you're not warriors?'

'Are you kidding?' said the flea, 'These are the lousiest circus bugs you'll ever see! And they're gonna make me rich!'

'You mean to tell me,' said Thorny, 'that our entire defensive strategy was concocted by clowns!'

'Hey, we really thought Flik's plan was gonna work.' Answered the ladybug. Flik? Flik! No! It just couldn't be! It just couldn't!


	8. Chapter 8

We all turned towards him. No! It wasn't possible! It couldn't be true! Not after all this time! He would never have lied to me would he?

'Tell me this isn't true!' I said going up to him with a pleading look. I could tell by the way he looked at me that it was. Oh! I just couldn't believe it. I felt completely crushed.

'This couldn't have happened at a more opportune time!' cried Mr. Soil 'the last leaf is about to fall!'

'We haven't collected any food for the grasshoppers!' said Dr Flora, panicked.

'If Hopper finds out what we almost did . . .' began Thorny but my mother interrupted,

'Hopper is not going to find out! We're going to hide all this and pretend it never happened,' she turned to the circus bugs, 'you bugs were never here, so I suggest you all leave . . .' I wasn't sure that trying to collect food and appease the grasshoppers was going to work this time. There was so little food, it would probably be impossible to get a small amount of food for them! And I doubted pretending nothing had happened would be successful either.

'But the Bird!' interrupted Flik 'The Bird will work!' I had my doubts. Okay, we had all worked hard to make it but if it was Flik's idea . . .

'I never thought I'd see the day when an ant would put himself before the rest of his colony.' Said my Mother sounding thoroughly ashamed of him.

'What?' he asked. What? What! Wasn't it obvious enough what! He had more than screwed up this time! He had done much, much worse! Didn't he realize what he had done! I could feel fury filling my entire body. Of all the things that could have happened!

'The point is, Flik,' answered my Mother, harshly, 'you lied to us.'

'No!' shouted Flik, 'No . . . I . . . I . . .'

'You lied, Flik!' I cried out, finding it impossible to keep the emotion out of my voice. 'You lied to her! You lied to the colony! You lied to me!' I was on the verge of tears, 'And like an idiot I believed you!' I felt so betrayed, I felt so stupid, the pain was too much to bare. I never wanted to see him again.

'I . . . I was just afraid, if you thought I'd brought circus bugs . . . I just wanted to make a difference.' I didn't care! I just didn't care for his excuses. I just didn't care about anything anymore.

'I want you to leave Flik, and this time don't come back.' He looked at the ground. Part of me could barely believe I had said such a thing to him. Flik and the circus bugs turned and walked away into the distance. I just stared.

'Alright, workers, quickly find all the food remaining on the island and take it to the offering stone and males go too!' My Mother commanded once Flik and the circus bugs had disappeared from view. I continued to stare at where Flik had been. Why? Why did this have to happen? Everything had been perfect and now everything was ruined.

'Atta, dear . . . you did it for the best,' said my mother quietly to me.

'It's okay . . .' added Ivy. I turned on her,

'No it's not! Nothing's okay!' I shouted, distraught. Had I really done the right thing?

'Maybe you need some time to yourself, dear,' said my mother consciously. I could vaguely hear the two of them walking away. In a way, I wished Flik hadn't been found out, at least I wouldn't feel so wretched now.

I walked around the colony watching the males and workers. I kept thing I could see Flik among the crowd smiling and waving at me, but he wasn't, he was gone, I was never going to see him again. Although at the time I had never wanted to see him again, now I wasn't so sure whether I wanted to or not. I remembered all the good times we had shared with one another: Our antennae getting tangled, talking in the infirmary, when he had kissed me. I stopped myself. Those things would never have happened if he hadn't lied in the first place. But was that a good thing or a bad thing? I walked among the stalks. Suddenly I fell. I had tripped over something. I looked behind me. It was one of Flik's telescopes. I got up. I looked at it,

'Why Princess aren't you looking lovely this morning, not of course you would need a telescope to see that . . .' My heart filled with grief and rage. I kicked it as hard I could. Then I suddenly felt guilty. I sat down on the ground, burying my face in my hands.

'A-Atta?' I turned sharply. Petal was standing behind a stalk nearby. I felt awkward, I didn't want her to see me in this state! She slowly walked up to me. 'You okay?' she asked quietly. I didn't answer. She sat down beside me.

'No.' I admitted sadly, feeling embarrassed and slightly ashamed; I didn't want to drag her into this!

'You . . . you really liked Flik, didn't you?' she asked slowly. I nodded gravely. She presented such words of wisdom from saying the simpilest things.

'Aha, and . . .' I paused, 'I'm not sure I did the right thing . . .' I sighed heavily. She put her hand on my shoulder.

'You – you did what you thought was the right thing to do.' Yes, she was right but had my decision been rash? Had I used the power I had in the wrong way? 'Well, at least he won't be here when the grasshoppers arrive!' Petal added. The grasshoppers! I shouldn't be sitting around feeling sorry for myself! I should contributing to the colony!

'Petal,' I said quickly, 'I must go back and help, the grasshoppers will arrive soon and . . .' I suddenly thought of something, 'Petal, find the other Blueberry Scouts and any others, if you can, hide somewhere. Who knows what could happen when the grasshoppers arrive!'

'What about you?' she asked.

'I'm needed.' She gave an understanding nod. We both stood up.

'Well, goodbye,' she said softly.

'Goodbye, Petal.'

'Atta, wait! We will see each other again, won't we?' I couldn't really understand why she was asking it.

'Sure, why wouldn't we?' I answered trying to sound cheerful. She smiled then ran off into the distance. It was then it occurred to me why Petal had asked. I gave a small shudder. She thought that the grasshoppers might . . . I didn't want to think about it. I got up and flew towards the colony. I looked for my mother and spotted her. I ran over. 'Mother,' she turned 'What can I do to help?'

The worker ants were running to the offering stone with food and quickly putting it on the pile. I watched them very anxiously through the fog. My heart was pounding incredibly fast. The grasshoppers would arrive any moment and there was no where near the normal amount of food let alone a double quantity. I was supposed to be responsible for the whole thing. What was going to happen to us? What would the grasshoppers do? Petal was right; at least Flik didn't have to worry about them. That lying airhead! He lied all that time and I believed him! I had thought that they were a bunch of clowns and I had been right! He had deceived me! I tried to stop myself thinking about it. The offering was what was important now. I wondered what would have happened if Flik, oh, it made me feel bent just to think his name, hadn't been found out. Would the bird have worked or would it have failed like the rest of his inventions? Well, most of them any way thinking of the megaphone and telescope. Me and Flik might even have . . . I was momentarily distracted from my thoughts by Ivy who had been carrying food until she had crashed right into the offering stone.

'Sorry!' she breathed, picking up the grain she had been carrying and trotted up and added it to the pile with the rest. I kept thinking I could hear wings and looked around, paranoid.

Martha was running towards the offering stone carrying a grain. She was not in a good mood. Once she had dumped the food on the offering stone (I say dumped because she literally did in an 'I don't care less' kinda way), she made it her priority to glare at me before marching off in a huff. She seemed to think the entire situation was utterly my fault. It wasn't my fault that Flik had lied to the whole colony!

Flik will be alright won't he? I asked myself. Of course he will be! And why would I care an inch what happens to him anyway. But there is that bird . . .

My attention snapped back to normal, there were no more workers coming. No! It couldn't be true!

'That's it?' I asked Thorny in desperation. 'But there's gotta be more food on the island!' There was so incredibly little. It was barely a quarter of the normal amount, that couldn't be it, surely?

'If we give up any more we'll starve.' Answered Thorny in a worried tone. I stared.

'Hopper won't accept this!' I cried in despair. I gasped. This time I really could hear wings. They were coming. I felt absolutely terrified. I flew down to my mother. 'Mother! It's not enough! What do we do?' I whispered urgently to her.

'I-I don't know.' She answered hopelessly, her voice hoarse. I whimpered. We clung tightly to each other, and, terrified, watched as the grasshoppers slowly emerged through the fog. We were all doomed. I was very difficult to prevent myself from shivering. Many others were gasping and shuddering, young ones were crying. More grasshoppers were advancing from every direction. We all moved away, petrified.

'You little termites!' shouted Hopper in a ton of fury that made us all turn, our eyes ablaze with fear, 'I give you a second chance, and this is all I get!' He flung the leaf of food at us. We dived out of the way just in time, all of us screaming. I had to say something, anything.

'But, Hopper, we ran out of time!' I cried out desperately knowing it was no use.

'Have you been playing all summer?' he yelled in a furious passion, 'You think this is a game!'

'No! No!' We begged 'Please!'

'Well guess what! You've just lost!' We were completely at Hopper's mercy of which he had none.


	9. Chapter 9

'Not one ant sleeps until we get every scrap of food on this island!' bellowed Hopper at us. The rest of the grasshoppers were driving us back from all directions. I could hear screaming. Everyone was running in different directions trying to make an escape.

I had to do something, but what could I possibly do to help anyone now? Then a thought struck me, I could fly while no one else could, didn't that mean I had a much better chance of getting away? And if the grasshoppers broke ranks, more ants would get away so they weren't likely to do that just to chase after one ant, and if I did get away maybe I could get some sort of help, if they were willing. But it would be a start. I ran in the opposite direction, straight ahead of me were grasshoppers. I took flight. I shot over the grasshoppers and flew as fast as my wings could carry me. The sounds behind me were blurred but I could vaguely hear grasshoppers' shouts. I put on a small burst of speed. Although I hadn't anticipated a chase there was a large chance that I would be pursued very soon. Hopper would never let me just get away.

The rest of the colony probably thought that I was a coward for running off and my mother, what did she think? Well, at least if I did something useful they might change their minds. Then I heard it, another set of wings and screaming. Oh, no! Not Thumper! I flew faster, breathing deeply. I could feel tremendous pain in my joints. The screaming was getting closer and closer. I needed somewhere to hide and fast. The Blueberry Scout Club House! I dived down, eastwards. I could see it not far ahead.

The screaming was ever closer. Sweat poured down my back, my vision was becoming blurred. With one last effort I landed in the club house. The screams died away but they echoed in my head. I wasn't the only one taking refuge there. Before I knew what was happening I was knocked down and was being embraced by every Blueberry Scout at once.

'You're here!' said a delighted Petal, bouncing up and down.

'Alright, alright,' I said laughing, 'I'm glad to see you too but I can't breathe under you lot!' They smiled nervously and got off me. I noticed there were three more kids in there, three boys. They were called Wood and Stump, the other boy I recognized as the boy Petal had been dancing with earlier. What was his name again? Ah, Kevin, that was it. Several of them looked slightly fidgety. Then the Lead Blueberry Scout, Zenna, spoke,

'Petal came and told us that you had told her to come to find us and tell us to hide, so we came here, and then some grasshoppers came past and said that after they had all the food they said that Hopper was going to . . . was going to . . .' she trailed off and looked at the floor. I waited, anticipating what was coming next, I was dreading it. Petal picked up where Zenna had left off,

'They said Hopper would squish the Queen.' I gasped and clapped my hands over my mouth. I was absolutely horrified. No, it couldn't be true! It just couldn't be! I looked around at the little subdued faces and knew that it was. Silence. Then I made up my mind, knowing I had no choice,

'Listen carefully, all of you. I need you to stay here and I'm going to go and get help, I'll be back soon,'

'Please don't leave us!' cried Petal in dismay.

'I'm sorry but I must.' I replied. She started to weep.

'Can't I come with you?' I shook my head.

'I don't want to put you in danger too,' I answered stroking her head 'but I promise I will come back soon what ever happens.' She nodded shakily and hugged me.

'I wish I was brave like you,' she answered tearfully. I felt embarrassed.

'You are brave.' I answered. I climbed out of the entrance. I sincerely hoped I wouldn't have to break that promise. I looked around me. I listened. Nothing. I slowly started to walk listening to every sound I made. Then I heard rustling behind me. I turned. Nothing. I zoomed into the air, slightly suspicious. It was a good thing I did this when I did for a moment later a grasshopper landed what would have been right on top of me. I heard wings. I looked up to see two more grasshoppers above heading straight for me! I gasped. I flew hard dodging in and out of the foliage. I just had to make it; I just had to, thinking of my poor mother's fate.

I could hear the grasshoppers' shouts close behind me. I was very scared, I could be caught at any moment and then I would never be able to save my mother or anyone else in the colony. I willed my wings to go faster.

By this time I had got to the opposite side of the riverbed and was desperately hoping that Flik and the other bugs weren't too far off. My mouth was dry and my wings were starting to feel numb, I knew I couldn't go on much longer. I was gasping for breathe. Then I saw it, not too far ahead was P.T. Flea's circus wagon. Thank goodness. I had almost made it. I dived down deeper in between the stalks of grass. Then I ascended to get them to lose me for at least a few moments. I used my last spurt of energy and . . . Woah! I crashed right into Flik and sent us both tumbling! We crashed to the ground of the wagon. The Circus Bugs had seen the grasshoppers coming and brought up the door.

'Hey, where'd she go?' shouted a grasshopper. I clung to Flik's shoulders.

'I dunno, could be anywhere.' Replied another,

'Maybe she tricked us,' said the third 'maybe she turned round and we didn't notice.' We heard wings flying away into the distance. I let out a sigh of relief. Flik turned his head. I let go of his shoulders. He gave me a look. I took a few steps back. The look seemed to be almost of distaste. I hesitated. Although I hadn't really expected him to be delighted to see me, I hadn't really expected this either.

'Listen, Flik, the colony is in a vast amount of trouble and we need you help.' I began.

'Well, what am I supposed to do about it? I'm _banished_, remember?' he answered coldly. I felt bitter.

'Please Flik, just listen to me, please.' I begged. He folded his arms and turned his back on me. I went round the other side of him but he turned away again. I felt desperate. 'The grasshoppers are eating our entire food supply!' Flik turned away yet again. The circus bugs looked concerned but didn't say anything. Flik continued to give me the cold shoulder. 'They've practically moved into the anthill!' Flik gave a shrug. 'And Hopper is going to squish the Queen, Flik! Can't you understand?' Don't you realize what this means!' I was starting to lose my cool.

'Can't you see that I'm depressed enough already without you getting on at me!' he shouted savagely before turning away again. I felt down cast. I sat down on one of the benches, defeated. How could I possibly help my mother now? Tears pricked my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. The Circus bugs looked like they wanted to say something. Flik turned his head towards me. He had a different expression on his face. Was it guilt? I looked at the floor feeling retched. I heard something sit next to me. I looked up to see it was Flik. I looked down at the floor again.

'Gee . . . um . . . sorry I yelled at you,' he said quietly, he sounded slightly embarrassed 'I-I just need more self control. And, and I'm . . .' he trailed off. He hesitated. 'I'm sorry I lied to you.' I looked up, slightly surprised, then I remembered when he had returned to Ant Island with the bugs and how he had, all of a sudden seemed to be panicked.

'You, you thought they were warriors at first though, didn't you?' I asked consciously, turning my head to look at the circus bugs, 'But when you returned you realized you had made a mistake. Then you covered it up.' He nodded 'because . . . because . . .' I stopped. I knew the reason and I knew he did too. He always seemed to mess up. He put his arm round my shoulder.

'Of course I'll help you.'

'You will?' I asked hopefully. He hesitated, then wiped my tears off my face.

'We'll all help.' He answered. I flung my arms around him in an embrace.

'Thank you.'

* * *

'Alright,' whispered Flik 'everybody understand what they've gotta do?' We nodded. We were hiding under some leaves near to the colony and Flik was using one of his telescopes to keep an eye on what was going on. We were going to use the bird. All we needed was The Blueberry Scouts.

'Wait, Flik,' said Francis the ladybug 'there's gotta be a reason we're there in the first place,'

'Just say Atta invited you of somethin',' replied Flik.

* * *

Petal was thrilled to see me, so were all the other kids. I had to tell them to calm down.

'It's pay back time,' said Zenna,

'Blueberry style!' continued Petal,

'Blueberry rock!' finished Blossom. They cheered.

* * *

We were under the leaves again. So were The Blueberry Scouts.

'We need someone to be a lookout to tell us of any danger and when it's safe to go.' Pointed out Manny the preying mantis. Flik thought for a moment.

'Atta, you're a fast flyer, plus ants are pretty small, could you do that?' I nodded nervously. 'And I'll be half way between you and here just in case something goes wrong.' I took flight and landed incredibly close to the colony. At least I could see that my mother was still alive.

Suddenly I was knocked to the ground.

'Hold her!' shouted a voice. I screamed and tried to scramble away but they grabbed my arms. I struggled. It was no use, I couldn't escape.

'We've got her!' shouted another voice. Then a third voice spoke,

'I'm sure that Hopper will be very pleased to see you!'


	10. Chapter 10

I tried once again to get out of their grip but it was no use. The grasshoppers had caught me and there was nothing I could do about it. They were going to take me to Hopper and what would he do to me? I didn't want to think about it but it was almost impossible. There were so many things I could think of, each worse than the previous. Then I remembered something Hopper had said in the summer and my body filled with even more dread,

'This is Thumper and he'll be dealing with any ant who thinks they know better than to stay in line . . .' I had done more than just stepped out of line, I was heading for my doom for sure! I turned my head. Among the stalks behind me, Flik was standing looking absolutely horrified. He must have heard me screaming. I could tell he was desperate to help me in anyway he could. I shook my head at him. He couldn't possibly take on three grasshoppers and win! And if he tried to help, the most likely outcome would be the discovery of the Bird and the plan we had! Or what if he got captured too? He'd be in worse trouble than I if he'd tried to help me.

He didn't move or try to help me but the expression on his face I would never forget. I forced myself to turn my head away, wondering if it would be the last time I would see him. My only hope now was that the plan would be put into action quickly enough to distract Hopper from dealing with me.

The grasshoppers dragged me towards the colony, towards Hopper. My heart was full of terror; I could see him getting closer and closer.

'Hopper, we've got her!' shouted one of the grasshoppers holding me. I felt a chill engulf my entire body. Hopper turned towards us. So did the rest of the colony. My Mother turned her head towards me. Even from that distance I could see sadness in her eyes. Did she feel I had let her down and that everything she had taught me was for nothing? Or maybe she really wanted to help me but knew she couldn't or . . . or perhaps Hopper had told her what was to happen to me when I was caught. I breathed quickly as we got closer.

I was flung to the ground before him. I slowly looked up, my face pale as chalk. He smirked down at me.

'So you thought you could escape, did you, Princess?' he sneered. I didn't reply I just stared up at him, fearful. What was going to happen to me? 'Where you actually naïve enough to believe you stood the slightest chance?' I remained silent. I was paralyzed by fear as he towered over me. I shuffled backwards, trying to get further away from him.

'You're not going anywhere, Princess!' He snarled. I had to admit to myself he was right. I was utterly surrounded by grasshoppers, it was impossible to get away. 'Not until I've taught you a lesson you will never forget!' he continued bearing down on me. What was he going to do? 'I will personally see to it that you never see the light of day . . .' Circus music was playing.

'Ladies and gentlemen, larvae of all stages, rub your legs together for the world's bug circus!' The circus bugs came into view riding on top of the circus wagon waving. I felt quite relieved.

'Wait a minute!' bellowed Hopper. The wagon stopped and so did the music. The circus bugs looked nervous. Hopper turned back to me. 'What's going on here?' he asked, his voice menacing,

'Well . . . uh . . .' I stuttered.

'Um, yes.' Answered the stickbug, laughing nervously, 'We were invited by Princess Atta as a surprise for your arrival.' I was desperately hoping Hopper would take this well. He didn't.

'Squish 'em!' The circus bugs gasped. The other grasshoppers got ready. However, just then the pill bugs zoomed out of the canon landing in front of us. Hopper stared at them in bewilderment. They started dancing and saying something in their gibberish Hungarian. Then they disagreed on something and started fighting. 'Now that's funny.' Said Hopper, amused. The other grasshoppers sat down and laughed. Oh, thank goodness! Hopper grabbed me and flung me into a seat. 'I'll deal with you later, Princess. Looks like you did something right for once; I guess we could use a little entertainment.' The stickbug laughed nervously,

'On with the show!' The circus bugs started performing, all was going according to plan so far. My Mother looked over to me and gave me a bizarre look. Did she suspect that I had brought the circus bugs back when I had supposedly been trying to run for it? Or was she wondering why they had come back on their own accord?

I didn't dare look up. I knew what I would see; Flik and the others climbing up the tree. And what if Hopper saw me looking up? The whole plan would be ruined! The grasshoppers were laughing exceptionally hard. Surely they wouldn't notice if I had a quick check? I quickly looked around me just in case. Then I looked up. They were three quarters of the way up. Awesome, they were faster climbers then we had anticipated and were ahead of schedule. I looked back down again, not wanting to be noticed.

My Mother had seen me and looked up too. She looked slightly shocked and quickly looked at me with a look of realization. She wasn't the only ant who had noticed me though; Mr. Soil was looking up and Cornelius was nudging Dr Flora and pointing upwards. I wished they wouldn't, they were more likely to attract attention to Flik and the others. Fortunately, the grasshoppers were concentrating completely on the circus performance.

Oh, hurry, hurry! Ivy and Carlos, who had been clutching each other, were looking up too by this time. Ivy whispered something to Carlos and he nodded. What had she said to him? Was it about me? Had they realized too?

'. . . of enchanted Asia, I give you the Chinese cabinet of metamorphosis,' Manny was saying. Yes, Flik, Petal and the others would be in by now. 'Using psychic vibrations I shall select the perfect volunteer.' I knew very well who he was going to pick, 'Why your majesty,'

'Me?' answered my Mother slightly surprised. Thumper screamed threateningly.

'Thumper, down,' said Hopper 'let her go, maybe he'll saw her in half.' He laughed. It was working perfectly so far.

'As you ascend the dung beetle to the unknown,' continued Manny, 'put your trust in the mysterious, beyond here, immortal compilation.'

'Oh, this is going to be good.' Said Hopper, obviously enjoying himself. Yeah, good for my Mother, good for me and good for the rest of the colony!

'And now the senturine spirits to inhabit the body of our volunteer. Transformation! Transformation! Transformation! And now Insectus Tranformatious!' Gypsy shot out of the box and then landed. Any second now she would give the signal. She bowed and flapped her wings up and down. That was the signal. Any moment now the Bird would shoot down and we would almost be entirely safe. The circus bugs started to move the container away as the grasshoppers shouted for more.

'Wait!' shouted Hopper, 'Where is she?' I didn't understand, the bird should have come down by this time! I looked up again, Flik was shouting to Wood and Stump. There was some sort of problem with moving the beam keeping the bird in place! Oh no! 'I said where is she!' Hopper and his gang were advancing on the circus bugs. Oh, hurry, Flik, hurry! I looked up for a third time; the boys had almost done it. Come on! It was out! Yes! We were all saved! The Bird went hurtling towards Hopper. He yelled.

'Bird! It's a bird!' he shouted panicked. The rest of the colony ran wild pretending to be terrified. I jumped up and joined in! It was a good excuse to get away from Hopper at any rate. I let out a few screams to add to the effect. Hopper was hiding behind his brother, shouting. Many grasshoppers had flown for it. I could tell it wouldn't be long until he gave up and left. We had almost won!

But what was this? No! It wasn't possible! No! The Bird! It was on fire! I stopped in my tracks and gasped. Oh, no! This couldn't happen! Not now! Oh, no! Flik and Petal were in there! As I watched the bird fell from its binding hurtling towards the ground and crashed.

'Flik!' I cried out, running towards the wrecked, burning bird, 'Petal!'


	11. Chapter 11

The rest of the colony followed me as I ran towards the wreckage. Were they alright? Were they hurt? The children jumped out of the bird coughing and spluttering. The girls ran to me. Petal clung to me.

'Where's Flik? Have any of you seen him?' I asked them urgently. Petal was about to answer but then . . .

'Whose idea was this? Ha!' roared Hopper. Silence. It had been Flik's idea but I wasn't going to give him away after all had done for me, for all of us! 'Was it yours, Princess!' He started to advance on me. Oh, I was really for it this time! I was already in a huge amount of trouble! What could I possibly do to save myself? The girls shuddered uncontrollably.

'Just get behind me, girls. It'll be okay.' I told them trying to sound calm but I found it impossible to keep a note of panic out of my voice.

'Don't leave us, Atta!' pleaded Petal quivering and clinging as tightly as she possibly could to me. It struck me that there were two meanings to what she had just said. Hopper was so close to me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ivy turn away. I braced myself but then we heard a shout.

'Leave her alone, Hopper!' he turned and, I looked round, greatly impressed. Flik jumped out of the Bird. 'The Bird was my idea! I'm the one you want!' I was finding it hard to believe. Did he realize what he had just done? How incredibly courageous he was! But what was Hopper going to do to him? Hopper was obviously not in a very good mood. He clicked his fingers. Thumper jumped out of nowhere and went for Flik. Flik couldn't do anything to defend himself.

It was absolutely horrid to watch as Flik got kicked and beaten in every possible way. Thumper had no mercy for him. Gee . . . and to think that would have been me if it wasn't for Flik's admittance. Oh, it must hurt so much! How I wished I could help him in some way. I couldn't keep my eyes off the hell – like scene. Hopper called Thumper off. Flik could barely move.

'Where did you get the goal to do this to me?' Hopper asked Flik, his voice full of fury. Flik winced a lot before finally answering,

'You were going to squish the Queen.' The rest of the colony let out horrified gasps.

'I hate it when someone gives away the ending.' Said Hopper, giving a signal to Thumper who kicked Flik again. 'You piece of dirt! No, I'm wrong, you're lower than dirt you're an ant!' Flik lay still on the ground, motionless in pain. 'Let this be a lesson to all you ants,' bellowed Hopper, 'ideas are very dangerous things. You are mindless, soil shoving losers, put on this earth to serve us!'

'You're wrong, Hopper.' Came Flik's weak, croaky voice. We all looked over to where he was. What did he mean exactly? He somehow managed to master the energy to stand. He wasn't going to defy everything Hopper had said? No one could possibly be brave enough to do that! But after all he had done . . . no, I'm letting my imagination run away with me, surely? 'Ants aren't meant to serve grasshoppers!' his voice loud and clear. He was! Wow! Hopper slowly advanced towards him. Would he recant what he had just said or was there more to come? Something inside me told me that Flik wasn't going to take back anything.

'I've seen these ants do great things and year after year they somehow manage to pick food for themselves and you!' I was completely blown away. Most ants would not ever go as far as admitting something like the bird had been their idea and after a beating like that would've never said anything like what Flik was saying but consider themselves lucky to be alive. But not Flik, what he was doing was true heroism.

'So, who's the weaker species! Ants don't serve grasshoppers! It's you that need us!' The rest of the colony murmured in agreement. He was completely right! It was incredible to hear him say these things. But how would Hopper retaliate to his notions? 'We're a lot stronger than you say we are!' Hopper was right in front of him by this time looking mad, very mad but that didn't stop Flik. 'And you know it, don't you?' Hopper knocked him to the ground and raised his food above Flik's head. No! Hopper was going to squish him! After all Flik had done for all of us! And after all his courage! I just couldn't let him die! I raced in front of him, trying to protect him. If Hopper wanted Flik, he'd have to go through me first!

'Well, Princess?' said Hopper, trying to mock my actions.

'Um, Hopper, I hate to interrupt, but . . .' It was the same grasshopper who had told us about Hopper's bird incident. I looked round to see the rest of the colony looking very defiant and ready to fight.

'You ants stay back!' hollered Hopper. Everyone linked arms.

'You see, Hopper,' I said smoothly, 'nature has a certain order: the ants pick the food, the ants keep the food, and the grasshoppers leave!' Everyone charged towards the grasshoppers. Most of them started to run and fly away! 'I'm so proud of you, Flik!' I shouted over the noise of passionate revolution. I could hear Petal whopping. She ran towards me grinning,

'That was too cool, Atta!' We turned. Thumper was in front of us. He screamed. Me and Petal looked at each other and grinned. We looked back at Thumper,

'Charge!' We cried, heading straight for him. Thumper was taken completely by surprise and had no time to react to our rebellious behavior. We jumped on top of him, shouting 'Charge!' once again. I kicked him as hard as I could,

'That's for beating up Flik!' I said fiercely. Petal whooped again. I bared my teeth at him. Thumper took flight after the other grasshoppers.

'Hurray!' shouted Petal, jumping up and down.

'Go home, Thumper!' I called after him, laughing.

'Nice one!' I turned. I felt slightly surprised, 'You didn't think I was going to miss out on all the action, did you?' Flik teased. I smiled.

'Nope.' I answered. He smiled back at me and clasped my hand,

'Come on, Atta; let's kick Hopper off Ant Island for good!'

'Hey! Wait for me!' said Petal indignantly. We laughed, before hurrying towards where Hopper was.

'Where are you going?' Hopper was yelling after his retreating gang, 'They're just ants!' We all charged towards him, knocking him down. We all lifted him up,

'To the canon!' yelled Flik,

'To the canon!' the rest of us shouted back in unison. We ran with Hopper towards the canon and shoved him into it. We all cheered.

'Happy landings, Hopper!' said Flik grinning broadly. Within a few seconds, Hopper would be gone forever! And we would all be entirely free from all the oppression we had suffered throughout our whole lives.

Suddenly, everything stopped. We could hear a strange sound not far off. We looked around. Couldn't see anything. Flik looked round the corner,

'Rain!' he cried but in less than a second after he had said this, rain drops poured out of the sky, hitting us. Everyone made a run towards the Anthill but were knocked down by the rain. I ran towards Flik, he had been hit hard and in his weak state was finding it impossible to get up.

'Flik! Are you okay? Is there anyway I can help you? Can't you get up?' I asked feeling very worried. His expression of hopelessness and weakness turned to one of pure terror. Before I knew what was happening, Hopper had grabbed Flik by the leg and was flying off! 'Flik!' I cried in despair. Hopper would surely kill him! The circus bugs flew after them. I thought for a moment.

I got up and took flight after them. The circus bugs had taken a straight flight after them, if I took a longer route and doubled back I would have a better chance of success, coming up in front of Hopper where he least expected it. And, if I was lucky, I would be on one side of Hopper while the circus bugs on the other. The rain was getting heavier and it was getting harder to see. Flik must be so scared! Or what if he was already dead? I couldn't bear to think of it. I needed to go faster. Images of Flik's death filled my head, torturing me. It had been I who had sent Flik on that ridiculous mission to look for warrior bugs. I had just done it to get rid of him. What had I done? If he died now, it would be I who was to blame. I would never be able to forgive myself for that. I knew that as long as I lived I would live with the guilt that I had in affect killed him. I turned and desperately hoped that I was not too late to save him.

I could see Hopper and Flik not too far ahead. He was still alive! I dodged out of sight; I couldn't have Hopper spotting me! Come on! Come on! I told myself. I was quite close, now. Hopper had turned his head backwards. This was my perfect opportunity! I just needed the courage. It was now or never. I dived underneath Hopper and grabbed Flik round the waste, flying harder than I had ever flown before. Flik looked up at me.

'Go that way!' He told me. What? That wouldn't be the right way!

'But the Anthill's over . . .' I answered confused. Had he lost his sense of direction?

'I've got an idea!' He said. I dived in the direction he said. Oh, please say his plan is going to work! I could hear Hopper roaring exceptionally close behind us! I screamed. I was getting extremely difficult to avoid the increasing amount of rain and Hopper at the same time and there was a layer of water below us.

'Flik!' I screamed.

'Come on, Atta!' He encouraged me. Hopper was ever closer. If he caught us, he would surely kill us! Flik seemed to be having the same thoughts because his body became tenser. Hopper almost grabbed us but, incredibly luckily, was knocked by a raindrop.

'Where are we going?' I asked Flik.

'Just a little further!' Flik told me. 'There!' Flik pointed towards a patch of ground. Suddenly, a raindrop hit us trapping us in it, landing on a leaf as it fell. Were we going to drown? Flik motioned me to get the water to go off the leaf to the ground. We pushed. It slid off sending us crashing to the ground.

'Quick,' said Flik pulling me to my feet, 'you've gotta hide!' He pulled me towards a large rock, 'No matter what happens, stay down!' He ran off the way we had come,

'No, Flik!' I whispered anxiously, 'What are you doing?' He was surely going to get himself killed! Hopper would arrive any second, unless this was all part of Flik's plan . . . Hopper landed right in front of Flik. My body became tense and shaky.

'H-Hopper!' gasped Flik.

'You think it's over!' hollered Hopper walking threateningly towards him.

'No! No!' cried Flik, half running, half walking backwards, 'I can explain!' What was he up to? I couldn't see where this was all going.

'All your little stunt did was buy them time!'

'No! Please! Please, Hopper!' begged Flik, leaning away from him on a pile of twigs. Hopper grabbed his throat and started to strangle him.

'I'll get more grasshoppers and be back next year, but you won't!' A terrifying thought suddenly occurred to me; what if this wasn't meant to happen? What if something had gone terribly wrong? What if Flik died right now and I hadn't done anything to try to save him? Oh, Flik, I hope you know what you're doing!

Suddenly we all heard a chirping noise. The bird! The same bird that had almost eaten us in the late summer! Flik hadn't just been leaning on twigs; he'd been leaning on a bird's nest!

'What's this?' asked Hopper, sounding somewhat amused, 'Another one of your bird tricks?' Ha-ha! Hopper thought it was another fake! How brilliant Flik was! 'Are there little girls in this one too? Hello girls!' The bird screeched. Hopper tried to run but the bird grabbed him in its beak. Flik ran back to me and we crouched behind the rock. We could hear Hopper's screaming. We turned away not wanting to see his end. All of a sudden the noise stopped. There was silence. We looked back up. The bird was sitting on its nest. Hopper was gone. It was over.

'Come on,' Flik whispered to me, 'that bird won't stay there forever, we have to move!' I nodded and he took my hand and we crept away unnoticed by the bird, who seemed to be settling down too go to sleep.

'What should we do?' I whispered urgently to Flik. 'We'll never be able to make it back to the anthill in this weather! And my wings are completely bushed, I would be lucky to fly half an inch! I felt hopeless. He looked back at me.

'I'm – I'm afraid there's only one thing we can do.' I waited, 'We'll have to climb the cliff.' I stared at him. Climb the cliff! Was it possible for us to make it up there? But what choice did we have? I knew that if we stayed where we were, the bird was very likely to find us. I nodded gravely. He seemed to read my thoughts. 'Don't worry, Atta. We'll make it.' I gave a vague smile.

The climb was tretorous. It was incredibly hard to climb the cliff and it was very slippery. The rain was still pounding down. Three-quarters of the way, Flik's injuries started to play up severally. He almost fell but I grabbed his hand just in time.

'Hold on!' I hollered over the roar of the wind and rain. I clung to his hand. I didn't know what to do; if I let go of the cliff with the hand remaining on it we would both fall to our deaths, but I didn't have enough strength to lift Flik up far enough that he would be able to grab the cliff, and what if he fell again? There was only one thing I could think of to do, but I would be taking a huge risk.

I put my wings into action and, hoping against hope that they would work despite my exhausted state. Gritting my teeth, I let go of the cliff. I flapped my wings as hard as I could. We started to descend. No! I flapped harder, we couldn't die! Not now! We slowly began to rise into the air. We were going to make it. The top of the cliff was almost in reach, just a little more energy . . . I grabbed the top of the cliff and tried to pull myself up with my left hand. It took four tries before I finally managed it. I pulled Flik up. We had made it, but we were utterly exhausted. We needed somewhere safe to rest.

'Over there!' said Flik, pointing to an overturned leaf which was reasonably dry, shaded and out of the wind, his voice hoarse. We slowly went over to it. It would conceal us if the bird came up and protect us from the rain. I nodded.

'Perfect,' I said 'after you,' I jested towards the leaf and he crawled under. I followed. The ground under was also reasonably dry at least compared to outside. I sat down next to Flik. At last we could rest. It felt quite pleasant sitting under a brown ceiling with Flik next to me. I still found it hard to believe that Hopper was actually gone forever and we were free at last.

'That idea of yours, with the bird,' I began, 'the real bird, I mean. It was absolutely brilliant!' He smiled and looked a little embarrassed.

'Well, I . . . I'

'Don't talk, it'll hurt you.' I warned him, 'Lie down, you need to rest!' I told him. I had to help him; it hurt to try to move into the position. 'You're gonna be okay.' I assured him. He looked so weak and fragile. He had been so courageous: he had come back with me to save the colony, he had saved my Mother, he had stood up to Hopper, he had saved me . . . And now, because of him the colony was liberated of Hopper forever. I hated to see him in this state and I had been so mad at him earlier . . .

'Y-You should l-lie d-down too.' Whispered Flik croakily to me, having trouble to get the words out. I lied down. He slowly reached out his had towards mine. I moved my hand towards his and held it as we both fell asleep.

I woke to a gusty wind blowing on me. The leaf had blown off us while we had slept. But was it that that had woke me? I could hear wings not far away. My first thought was grasshoppers, but no! I looked upwards to see the circus bugs!

'Down here! Down here!' I shouted. I ran over to where Flik lay asleep. 'Flik! Flik!' I said shaking him lightly. I didn't want to accidentally make him feel pain. 'The circus bugs! They're here!' I ran back to where I had been. The circus bugs were descending. I looked back towards Flik. He was slowly standing up. I rushed back to him and helped him up. The circus bugs had landed. They looked quite relieved to see us.

'We suspected that you had been . . .' began Gypsy, 'I mean, we thought that you would go after him, Princess, and then we saw that bird again and knowing Hopper . . .' she stopped. I could see what she meant. The chances of finding us alive had been very few. I looked at Flik.

'Hopper's the only one who got eaten by a bird. It was Flik's plan.' I told them. They all looked at each other in amazement.

'Well, the important thing is that you're both safe.' Said Manny.

'Safe! Safe! You safe!' went the pill bugs.

'We'd better get back to the anthill. They'll be worried sick about you two.' Said Slim. Flik climbed aboard Dim.

'Come on, Atta.' Said Flik, holding out his hand to me, 'let's go home.'


End file.
